Chuck Jones

Born: September 21, 1912
Died: February 22, 2002 (age 89)

Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio. 

What do you know about Chuck Jones?  Try this Cartoon Quick Quiz.

1. After graduating from Chouinard Art Institute, Jones held a number of low-ranking jobs in the animation industry, including washing cels at the Ub Iwerks studio and assistant animator at the Walter Lantz studio.

• True or False?

2. What year did Chuck Jones join Leon Schlesinger Productions, the independent studio that produced Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Warner Bros., as an assistant animator?

• 1930
• 1933
• 1936

3. He was promoted to animator, and assigned to work with new Schlesinger director. Who was this new director

• Tex Avery
• Hank Paulson
• Ben Teller

4. There was no room for the new unit in Schlesinger's small studio, so they were moved into a small adjacent building. What did they dubbed the buidling?

• Termite Terrace
• Mickey’s Menace
• Cartoon Heaven

5. Jones became a director himself in 1938 when Frank Tashlin left the studio. What was Jones' first cartoon?

6. Jones credits this cartoon as the film where he "learned how to be funny." What is the cartoon?

7. During the World War II years, Jones worked closely with Theodor Geisel to create the Private Snafu series of Army educational cartoons. What is Theodor Geisel pen name?

• Captain Kangaroo
• Dr. Seuss
• Clarabelle the Clown

8. What was the cartoon that introduces the Road Runner, and Wile E. Coyote?

9. In 1950, Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese began working on Rabbit Fire, a short that changed Daffy Duck's personality forever. They decided to make him a totally different character; instead of the wacky, comic relief character he had been, they turned Daffy into a vain, egomaniacal prima donna wanting to steal the spotlight from Bugs Bunny. Of his versions of Bugs and Daffy, Chuck Jones has said, “Bugs is who we want to be. Daffy is who we are.”

• True or False?

10. In 1978, Jones' wife Dorothy died; three years later, he married the writer of the comic strip Rick O'Shay. What was her name?

• Marian Dern
• Alice Tatum
• Meg McRyan

Where is Chuck Jones Buried?

Chuck Jones Answers

1. True
2. 1933
3. Tex Avery
4. Termite Terrace
5. The Night Watchman
6. The Dover Boys
7. Dr. Seuss
8. Fast and Furry-ous
9. True
10. Marian Dern

Page 1 of 1